Author: Emporium Reporters

For over two years, I have been transitioning – by the grace of God, not in hospice; and certainly not in my sexual orientation, I remain a man, HIM, HE, and HIS, in cognition, courage and character. But I was transitioning as an employee of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and as a labourer in the vineyard of the Federal Government of Nigeria. After close of business on 6th February 2026, I finally left the NCC, a denouement to more than 20 years of work with the Federal Government of…

I begin with Game of Thrones, a world not far removed from ours, where power, wealth, and revenge are the true currencies of politics. In Season 5, Episode 1, we hear this:   Tyrion Lannister: What is it that you want exactly?   Lord Varys: Peace. Prosperity. A land where the powerful do not prey on the powerless.   Tyrion Lannister: Where the castles are made of gingerbread and the moats are filled with blackberry wine. The powerful have always preyed on the powerless, that’s how they became powerful in…

It is either Nasir El-Rufai is a very lucky man, or he is a very strong man. He was arrested by his friends, charged variously for multiple offences, none of the various courts has yet ruled on his bail application, but he arrived home in Abuja on Saturday. His jailers mourned with him and said he needed to arrive home early enough to bury his mother who died the previous day.   “But, the court is already seized of the matter. How did he do it outside the courtroom?” An…

You must have heard that the Electoral Act, 2026 (EA 2026) has removed certificate forgery as the basis to challenge the outcome of an election at the tribunal. Someone drew my attention to it a while ago and my first instinct was to doubt it. You cannot blame me. My training as a journalist — both in the classroom and on the job — is to be cautious, or even sceptical, with unsolicited information until proven true. Off the top of my head, my response was that the 1999 Constitution…

Have you read Niyi Osundare’s poem, The word is an egg? It explores a deep-rooted Yoruba philosophy of the permanence and fragility of the spoken word. Osundare also drills into its creative and destructive power. That philosophy proclaims the egg shell-like nature of the word – “eyin l’ohùn”. Osundare’s poem took the Yoruba philosophy a notch higher. Once spoken, he said, like an egg, words are ungatherable. “The Word, the word/Is an egg:/If it falls on the outcrop/Of a stumbling tongue/It breaks/Ungatherably,” he wrote. Osundare’s word permanence philosophy, like Pre-Socratic…

“One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas. No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.”   Victor Hugo, Histoire d’un Crime, 1852.   Victor Hugo, the French philosopher, is absolutely right: the devolution of policing powers to subnational and local governments is long overdue. This is not a radical departure; it was the reality during the colonial era and the First Republic.   It is worth noting that the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) did…

The roar of engines, the surge of travellers, and the urgency of re-union have always defined Nigeria’s festive season. However, beneath the excitement lies a recurring threat: a spike in road traffic crashes that has, for years, cast a shadow over national celebrations.   At these critical moments, when driving on the nation’s highways becomes a challenging experience, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), as the nation’s lead agency on road safety management and traffic administration, has always remained committed to its statutory mandate not merely as a regulator, but…

Ordinarily, I would not have dignified the recent fabrication circulating in the public space with a response. For quite some time now, I have deliberately chosen to distance myself from routine political commentaries, particularly in an environment where reasoned engagement is often supplanted by sentiments and expediency. However, it has become necessary to speak, if only to set the records straight and to defend the integrity of my name, which has been fraudulently appended to a poorly written and mischievous document advocating the zoning of the Northern Senatorial District ticket…